Uganda Police has confirmed the deportation of South African legendary singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka.
Police spokesman Fred Enanga said, “This to inform the public that the security task force in conjunction with immigration officials today escorted Ms. Mhinga Ntobizodwa Yvonne aka Yvonne Chaka Chaka to Entebbe International Airport where had an immediate flight to South Africa via Kigali,”
Adding, “She was advised along with her promoters to apply for a working visa to perform a working visa for her music performance and avoid the pretense of being an ordinary visitor which cannot enable her to perform in any income generating activities within the country.
The singer was supposed to perform today 31 December during the Enkuuka concert at Lubiri Mengo.
In July last year while performing on a charity concert in Kampala, Chaka Chaka described musician turned politician Robert Kyagulanyi alias Bobi Wine as the new Nelson Mandela of these days.
But police spokesman Fred Enanga said Chaka Chaka had entered the country on an ordinary visa of a visitor yet she had come to perform and required a special visa.
Mr Enanga said as a result, the Immigration Department has cancelled her temporary visa before security officials escorted her to Entebbe Airport and put on the immediate plane back to South Africa.
This website had earlier reported the music icon’s much anticipated music performance at Buganda Kingdom end of year show was in the balance after she was blocked by security agencies on Tuesday morning from doing her final music rehearsal.
The singer, who was booked into Pearl of Africa Hotel, was on Tuesday morning blocked by armed men as she attempted to conduct a sound check.
Security forces are said to have cordoned off the hotel and ordered her to stop her rehearsal. They also demanded all staff and journalists present to switch off their phones or they be confiscated. The armed men then demanded to speak to her in private before they whisked her off to an unknown destination.